Cellulose has previously been recovered from agricultural by-products such as legume hulls by the utilization of a chlorine oxidizing agent as displayed in Thompson U.S. Pat. No. 4,486,459 which is herein incorporated by reference. The utilization of this prior process produces, as a by-product, waste water containing chlorinated phenolic products. The waste water also contains free chlorine that inhibits microbial action and microbial breakdown of the waste in aerated samples, thereby creating a delay for subsequent disposal of the waste. Aeration ponds containing such wastes emanate extreme odors.
It is an object of the instant invention to provide a process for recovering organoleptically improved cellulose from legume hulls by employing chlorine-free oxidizing agents such that no chlorinated phenolic by-products are produced for disposal in the waste water and no free chlorine is present in the waste water to prevent microbial action.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a process to recover cellulose from legume hulls, said process having reduced process time in comparison to chlorine oxidation techniques.